The panel, led by state Appeal Court Judge Edwin Lombard and retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Pascal Calogero, heard from nearly 20 speakers during the session at the Dryades YMCA.

All were asked to suggest the most important thing Landrieu can do as mayor to enhance public safety in New Orleans.

Several called for expanding educational and treatment programs to fight drug abuse but said the city cannot "arrest its way" out of its crime problem by jailing thousands of defendants for possession of small amounts of drugs.

Some speakers cited a need to make police officers more sensitive to the city's varied ethnic and cultural communities, and others said the key is providing positive role models and mentors for young black males, who make up the bulk of the city's prison population.

City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis said the city needs a place to send students who are expelled from alternative schools and suggested creating a military-style boot camp at Jackson Barracks.

She also said the lack of beds for mental health patients in the city since Hurricane Katrina is contributing to "an epidemic of domestic violence."